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The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Julie Chen was born in Queens, New York City.[2] Her grandfather, Lou Gaw Tong, grew up "dirt poor" in rural China, but managed to become affluent and ultimately became a polygamist who had nine wives and eleven children.[3][4][5] Julie's mother, Wan Ling Chen, married a man named Yen Chun Chen "who could not be more opposite than who her father was", and the couple have been married for over 50 years.[3][6] Julie has two older sisters, Gladys and Victoria.[7][8]

One of her earlier jobs came in June 1990, interning at CBS Morning News alongside Andy Cohen[10][11] – the series which she would anchor a decade later – where she answered phones and copied faxes for distribution. The following year, while still in school, she worked for ABC NewsOne for one season as a desk assistant. She was subsequently promoted to work as a producer for the next three years. The following year, she traveled to Dayton, Ohio, to work as a news anchor for WDTN-TV, from 1995 to 1997.[12][13] During her time in Dayton, Chen had plastic surgery on her eyes to make her eyes look larger.[14]

Since 2000, she has also been the host of the American version of Big Brother. During the first season (2000), Chen was widely criticized in the media for her heavily scripted, wooden delivery in her interaction with the studio audience and in the interviews on the live programs, earning her the nickname "Chenbot." She has indicated in two separate interviews,[15][16] that she takes no personal offense to the term, adding that it may derive from her "precise on-air style" which comes from "a desire to be objective". She again acknowledged the nickname while discussing mugs made in her likeness when she proudly proclaimed, "I am the Chenbot!" in a segment[17] on the The Early Show.

Following her graduation from USC as a broadcasting and English major, she became a news assistant for ABC News in Los Angeles, California, in September 1991. There, she met her future longtime boyfriend, television news editor Gary Donahue.[22]Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS Television, began dating the Big Brother host during his marriage to Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves. On April 22, 2003, a week after Les Moonves signed a five-year multimillion-dollar contract with Viacom,[23] his wife filed for divorce in L.A. Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences, according to her lawyer Dennis Wasser.[24] Divorce proceedings were delayed for almost two years because of financial settlement disagreements. On December 10, 2004, Moonves got a court to grant an early divorce, leaving spousal support and child support to be determined at a later date.[25][26]

On December 23, 2004, Chen and Moonves were married in a private ceremony attended by friends and family at a private home in Acapulco, Mexico.[27] On September 24, 2009, Chen gave birth to their son, Charlie Moonves.[28]

On September 11, 2013, during the first week of Season 4 of The Talk, Chen revealed that she had undergone blepharoplasty early in her career after being pressured by her previous news director and a high-profile agent. Chen said that her decision "divided" her family, but she stated must "live with every decision that I've made and it got me to where we are today. And I'm not going to look back."[29]

Chen can speak Mandarin Chinese but is not entirely fluent. Regarding her heritage, she stated: "[W]hen my son was born it was like a revival of me trying to get back in touch with my Chinese roots. It's important for me to have it back in my life, so I could put it into my son's life."[5] She is also a devoted yogini.[30]